"These days in Congress, not even strong bipartisan support seems to guarantee a bill’s success. But the Republicans and Democrats who backed a U.S. Senate bill to overhaul the nation’s environmental safety law for industrial chemicals refused to give up. Overcoming a thicket of procedural barriers, they won a signature victory [Thursday night] as the Senate unanimously approved, on a voice vote, an overhaul of the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

The vote puts Congress close to reforming one of the nation’s most maligned environmental laws for the first time in nearly 40 years. Both environmentalists and industry have assailed TSCA, first passed in 1976, for being unwieldy and ineffective.

The Senate bill now stands alongside a far narrower, but still strongly bipartisan, bill already approved by the House of Representatives. Lawmakers must still resolve differences between the two measures, and send a final version to the president’s desk."

Puneet Kollipara reports for Science December 17, 2015.   [2]

SEE ALSO:

"Senate OKs Bill To Overhaul Chemical Regulation" (AP) [3]